If you’ve ever been in downtown Biloxi, or even just seen photos of the historic business district, you’ve likely laid eyes on the former Peoples Bank Building. Its iconic turret is used in Biloxi Main Street’s logo. The Romanesque pile,… Read More ›
Banks
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Where are all the early Greenwood Banks?
We’ve previously featured the 1890 Bank of Greenwood and the 1913 Wilson Banking Company on Preservation in Mississippi. Finding details about those bank buildings resulted in somewhat of a scavenger hunt through the newspaper archives and virtual driving around Greenwood. In… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Former Bank of Greenwood
Continuing with the bank buildings focus, Greenwood’s former Bank of Greenwood sits at the corner of Howard and Ramcat Alley. MDAH calls the c. 1890 building Romanesque and Lloyd Ostby (1980) referred to it as Victorian Romanesque, constructed of brick… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Wilson Banking Company of Greenwood
The Delta Daily News reported in March 2018 about the planned reopening of the former Wilson Banking Company building–as a bank! On my recent first visit to downtown Greenwood, I stumbled across this beautiful 1913 Beaux Arts building designed by architect Frank… Read More ›
Mid 20th-Century Eclectic Historicism in Laurel
We’ve had several posts on what later mid-century modern buildings (defined here on MissPres by W. White as c.1965-c.1978) were considered in their time as the best Mississippi had to offer. Let’s not forget that there were plenty of buildings… Read More ›
1970s Architecture and the Future of Historic Preservation in Mississippi
Three weeks ago, Thomas Rosell’s post “Mississippi’s Best Buildings of 1974” stirred up a substantial amount of conversation on local Mississippi examples of 1970s era architecture. It is eye-opening to many historic preservationists that buildings from this decade will be… Read More ›
Mississippi’s Best Buildings of 1974
In 1974, the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its fourth annual convention, according to a Delta Democrat Times blurb, and presented six honor awards. The awards were dominated by a Greenville firm that picked up four awards. Below the… Read More ›
Mississippi Builders: A.C. Samford Company
Today’s post sheds light on a construction company that was fairly active on the Coast during the 1920s and early 1930s. The projects the company was bidding on and constructing were and are landmarks in the communities of Gulfport and Biloxi…. Read More ›
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Three Round Banks
When I was in Meridian looking at the old Sears building last week, I discovered for the first time (although I’ve driven past them numerous times) two mid-century banks in the same area. They reminded me of a former bank… Read More ›
Newspaper Clippings: Wiring the Pascagoula-Moss Point Bank, 1960
Here’s an interesting take on a building that’s appeared a few times here on MissPres, most recently an announcement of its new owners and plans for new life. Here we get an article that was first published in a trade… Read More ›
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Modern Banking in Downtown Jackson
I found this to-die-for postcard showing Jackson’s Trustmark Bank (formerly First National Bank) building a few weeks ago and was surprised to win it on eBay. Opened in 1956, the building was designed by two Jackson architectural firms, James T. Canizaro and Overstreet, Ware & Ware… Read More ›
A Piece of Pascagoula History on the Market
I recently saw a Pascagoula real estate listing that caught my eye. The former Pascagoula National Bank at 535 Delmas Avenue is on the market. Originally built in 1938, the bank is the only building I am aware of that R…. Read More ›
Adaptive Reuse
Last September in Malvaney’s post on Mid-Century Fondren’s First National Bank R P Adams commented that as drive up traffic became heavier than lobby traffic banks started having smaller or in some cases no interior banking floor, turning full efforts to multiple… Read More ›
Rathbone Debuys Bank Identified
Recently the Tulane Southeastern Architectural Archives blog featured a post about the time-saving office of New Orleans architect Rathbone DeBuys. In addition to having a pretty swell name, Rathbone Debuys was a pretty smart fellow, having several degrees from Tulane… Read More ›
Weather Takes Down Two Okolona Buildings
Two historic buildings in downtown Okolona, the old Merchants & Farmers Bank and its next-door neighbor, met their demise in the bad weather on Tuesday night, according to WTVA. A third building, dating to the 1880s, appears to be in a… Read More ›
Mid-Century Mississippi: Fondren’s First National Bank
Today’s blast to the past is just a nice little Modernist bank building in my Fondren neighborhood that I’ve always admired. It’s one of the earliest drive-through banks I’ve documented, since I started noticing drive-through banks, prodded by Thomas Rosell… Read More ›
Unbuilt Mississippi: An R.H. Hunt Bank in Biloxi
This Unbuilt Mississippi post features what would have been the tallest structure in downtown Biloxi until the construction of the Santa Maria del Mar in the early 1970’s. I was able to find this nugget in a 1908 issue of The… Read More ›
Chris Risher: Colonial Revivalist?
I’ve often admired this little brick commercial building on Old Canton Road in Jackson, just south of Highland Village for its use of traditional motifs like the brick veneer, columned gallery, pilastered door surround, and other thoughtful details in what is clearly a 1960s or 1970s building.
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Bay St. Louis & Waveland
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Biloxi & Gulfport
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
A Nation in Motion: Railroad Structures
Today we begin a series based on the Mississippi entries from the 1976 document A Nation in Motion: Historic American Transportation Sites. The informal compilation sprang from a 1973 suggestion by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to the United States Department… Read More ›
Architect Pics: Thomas Sully
Not long ago the Tulane University’s Southeastern Architectural Archive blog announced the recent compilation of the finding aid for their collection of documents from the office of Mississippi City born architect Thomas Sully. “The Southeastern Architectural Archive recently finalized the… Read More ›
Architect Pics: Leon C. Weiss
Leon Charles Weiss was a busy man. In addition to an independent practice, he was a partner in four other firms throughout his life. So busy he had to pose for this photograph while catching up with his correspondence. I… Read More ›
MissPres Word of the Week: Window
In January 2012 Malvaney ask us in the post entitled “When You Absolutely Positively Have to Know What’s a Volute?” to share our favorite definition of a volute. In that spirit I’ll ask y’all to share a definition of the word… Read More ›
MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Pilaster
Time for another MissPres Architectural Word of the Week. As we move right along through the alphabet, you can check out our past words here. Have you been keeping an eye out for these elements like I have? This week’s… Read More ›
Mississippi Architect, August 1964: Greenville Motor Bank
The August 1964 issue of the Mississippi Architect magazine features a building type that I hadn’t even noticed on the landscape until Thomas Rossell started pointing it out to me: the motor bank, better known to us today as the… Read More ›
MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Mushroom Capital
Time for another MissPres Architectural Word of the Week. As we move right along through the alphabet, you can check out our past words here. Have you been keeping an eye out for these elements like I have? While only… Read More ›